The Katz Little Game
by Couragefan09
Summary: Katz decides to play one final game with his cowardly nemesis. Blinded and nearly helpless Courage will have to trust his life on his supposedly infallible Computer. Even if he manages to survive the task Katz still awaits him at the end...
1. The Situation

The Katz Little Game

Chapter One: The Situation

When my power switch was flicked on and I was surged back into existence I was expecting to feel the twit's frantic tapping on my keyboard or at the very least hear his insistent babbling begging me for help. When neither of these things occurred during the first few minutes of my start up process I became painfully aware that something was wrong. I couldn't even remember the last time the twit had switched me on and had _not _been in a panic, this newly found silence was almost eerie.

My screen flickered to life and all my fears were confirmed. Gone was the dreary attic wall I was so accustom to seeing, now I faced a cold, gray, concrete wall. My mind reeled trying to figure out what was going on, I instinctively reached for my internet connection only to find it was gone. It wasn't just a lack of an internet connection wherever I was, whoever had me in their captivity had gone in and removed the programing that allowed me to receive an internet connection in the first place. How on earth could anyone modify my programing without me being awake to know it was happening?

Where was the twit? For all I knew something could have finally done him and his family in for good. _Years _could have passed before someone finally found me in the old abandoned farmhouse. I quickly brought up my own internal clock, thankful that it hadn't been removed as well. Two months had passed since the last time the twit needed my help, it wasn't unlike him to leave me off for months at a time. This at least confirmed that if something had happened to the twit and his family then someone hadn't waited very long to raid the farm of any valuables. Then again if I was just in a new ownership after the twit had met his untimely fate then why would they intentionally deprive me of an internet connection? You simply don't do something like that unless you really wanted to.

Something about all this didn't feel right, not at all. The fact that my new owner had switched me on without so much as a greeting was a bit unnerving. If he had the ability to tamper with my programing without my knowledge then there was no way he didn't know I was sentient. The fact that my new owner was also most likely standing right behind me or right outside my field of vision was even more unnerving. For all I knew whoever or _whatever_ had gotten to the twit and his family now held possession of me.

Almost as if sensing my thoughts a cold, drawling voice spoke up from somewhere behind me, "Welcome, I do believe I've given you some time to reorient yourself and now I think it's time for the fun to begin."

"Excuse me?" I replied all while attempting to 'metaphorically' hold my head high.

The response I was given was an amused laugh from the cold voice.

Whatever meager hope I might have had that my new owner did not intentionally modify my programing had been crushed the moment he had spoken. One did not speak like that unless they were planning on being antagonistic. I inwardly groaned knowing that whatever was going to happen next wasn't going to be fun for me.

"What did you do?" I asked angrily, "You messed around with my programing! I'm not going to so easily forgive you for that!" Maybe I could finally get some answers.

The cold voice laughed again, "I merely added some new tools that you will be needing for the task ahead. I also made quite certain that you cannot make any contact with the outside world. I simply cannot have the police showing up and ruining our little game."

Tools? A task ahead? Keeping the police out of a game? Lovely, I already wasn't liking the sound of this. I did a quick search through my own programing and indeed there was plenty of new files to be found, just checking a few of them they seemed to be live cameras of places all over Nowhere.

"What exactly is all this?" I asked. "What are you planning on doing?"

"I'm so very glad you asked!" The voice replied with enough sarcasm to rival my own. "This isn't about what I will be doing, it's about what _you'll _be doing."

I picked up the soft pattering sounds of footsteps and the owner of the voice finally decided to show himself. The moment he fell within my sight I knew who he was through description alone. It was Katz, the twit had written about him often in his silly little memoirs. There was no way I _couldn't _know who he was.

"You must be Katz." I said in a bored tone. I wasn't about to let this idiot faze me.

Out of all the enemies the twit had made throughout his career in saving Muriel Katz was the most persistent. The twit had a knack for ruining his operations, sometimes even accidentally, and Katz had not taken kindly to it.

"Pity," He said, "Here I was planning a grand introduction and you already know who I am."

"Cut to the chase!" I growled. "I want nothing to do with you and the twit's little rivalry!"

Katz pulled out a chair, sitting down he let his feet rest on my keyboard. He had a look on his face so smug that _anyone _would want to punch it off of him. The fact that he was crushing my keyboard made me wish more then anything that I could send an electrical shock through it and wipe that smug expression right off his face.

"I've decided to play one last game with my ever faithful nemesis." He drawled running a finger down one of his whiskers. "I figured after all the times you've help him stop me you would have so very much _fun _saving him one last time."

"So your going to kill him then?" I asked. I suppose it was a stupid thing to ask of a person who had dedicated so much time trying to do exactly that.

He sat forward, his eyes meeting my screen. "The only one who will be killing him is _you_." A grin fell across his face. "Every choice, every decision your about to make will decide whether he lives or dies. You _enjoy _helping him so much so I thought I'd up the stakes a little bit. The only thing that will be killing him is you if you make a mistake."

His grin grew even more malicious. "But you don't make mistakes, do you?"

End Of Chapter One


	2. The Game

Chapter Two: The Game

If I had eyes to roll I would have done so, "Don't be so melodramatic." I responded to the grinning cat.

"If I were you I would adjust my attitude. If you don't take this seriously Courage _will _die." His eyes narrowed. "And...so will you."

I suppose I should have expected that he would put my life on the line as well. I didn't doubt my ability to help the twit. Even if I was lacking an internet connection I still had plenty of information in my databanks to call upon. The problem was the 'game' itself, I didn't have the slightest idea what Katz was going to put me and the twit through. I doubted a cure for werewolf bites or fending off man eating planets would be of much use for whatever Katz had in store for us.

"Enough with your melodramatics and lets get started." I replied to the cat growing impatient. "The sooner we get this over with the sooner I can go back to pretending you don't exist."

Katz was starting to actually look somewhat disappointed. I suppose he had been expecting me to start begging for my life or something, or at the very least start panicking like some weak willed idiot might do. I bet he was used to most of his captives doing just that, he toyed with them the same way he would toy with a mouse before making it his lunch. Well, I wasn't about to give this idiot any satisfaction, not that I would ever beg anyway.

"Pity." He spoke. "I was hoping you would be a little more fun. Oh well, that attitude of yours won't last for long."

"Try me." I replied.

Katz pressed several keys on my keyboard, once again bringing up one of the many cameras that had been added to my files. What I saw almost made me cringe, not that I could really cringe anyway. Katz was once again grinning, almost making me believe he could sense my reactions.

The sight I was given from the camera shot showed me Courage. He was laying, knocked out, barely a footstep away from a sheer cliff. If he so much as rolled over it would be the end for him. A very noticeable thick, black collar was clasped around his neck. His arms were tied behind his back, they were bound so tightly it was almost amazing they hadn't gone purple with blood loss. Worse of all his eyes were a bloody, painful looking mess. For one horrible moment I thought that maybe Katz had gouged his eyes out but upon closer inspection it became apparent that his eyelids had been crudely sewn shut. It wasn't exactly something to feel better about but it was better then having no eyes at all.

"You've...blinded him?" I asked. It was less of a question and more like stating the obvious.

Katz did not reply, allowing me to fully grasp the situation at hand. Courage was currently lost somewhere in the middle of nowhere, severely disabled and most likely very far from help. With his arms bound as tightly as they were if he fell into one of the many crevices littering the Nowhere landscape he would have no way of pulling himself out and would ultimately die in there and being blind...

Katz's voice pulled me out of my thoughts, "The game is quite simple, you will be his eyes and you will guide him through the ordeals ahead. Fail him and he will die and by extension so will you. He has a four day trek across Nowhere ahead of him, I've strewn cameras across the path I have created for him. You will be able to keep an eye on him with them, you will never be blind so long as you keep him on the path he is supposed to walk. Do not even entertain the notion that you can have him leave the path in hopes of saving his life. Your lifeline to him will be severed without the cameras and he is far from any towns. In his current condition he has no hope of finding someone to help him long before he dies of dehydration."

Katz paused for a moment to crack his knuckles, once again looking immensely pleased with himself. He was acting as if he had already won.

"The mark that will signal the end of each day will be the water I have left for him out on the trail. It will be enough to keep him from dropping dead prematurely but it will not be enough to satisfy him. You will have to force him to continue forward even when he feels like giving up and I guarantee you that he will want to give up. The collar around his neck will allow you to communicate with him, I should also warn you that it is keeping track of his vitals. If his heart stops it will send a signal to the machine I currently have you hooked up to and it will deliver quite a nasty electric shock to your system. Allow me to tell you ahead of time that this shock will not be lethal...at first...Let me guarantee you that you will meet just as slow and painful a death as he will if you don't get him through this alive."

I wasn't amused, not even slightly. I spoke up with an intense bitterness in my voice,"And let me guess? Even if he makes it through your silly little idea of a game you're still going to kill him in the end anyway. I doubt you'll spare me either."

Katz flung his head back in laughter as if I had just said the most hilarious thing, "I am not a sore looser, my mechanical friend! You have my word that I will not kill him if he _somehow _makes it through the game alive."

I could hardly believe he'd just _let _Courage go in the end but I was in no position to question him. Whatever would happen at the end of this 'game' would have to wait until then. Courage was going to make it through to the end, I wasn't going to let him fail this. _I _don't do failure but _twits _do and that alone was endangering my continued existence.

If Katz was somehow being truthful maybe he would just let us go in the end. Courage wasn't permanently blind at the very least and if Katz really wanted to he could have seen to it that he was. If he really wanted to spite his nemesis he could have permanently disabled him.

"One final note before we begin." Katz piped in. He pressed several more keys bringing up two new camera shots.

I cringed yet again, in the two different shots sat Eustace and Muriel. They were tied to the chairs they were sitting in, their backs facing the camera. I couldn't tell if they were awake or not but judging from the odd angles their heads were resting it seemed that they were knocked out as well.

Katz began to speak once more, "On the second day Courage will come to a crossroad, so long as he hasn't died yet. You will have to make a choice for him at that crossroad and whichever choice you make will doom one of these two to starvation. I hope you won't disappoint Courage with your decision..."

"Only one can be saved?"

I admit, I couldn't hide the shock in my voice this time. This was a low blow from the cat, even if Courage survived he'd have to lose one of his family members and there was an even chance that it would be Muriel...

Katz laughed, "I figured it was time for him to know how _real _loss feels and what a perfect place for it to happen then in this game. He may come out of this with his life but he will still lose something in the end."

End Of Chapter Two


End file.
